It’s the eve of New Year’s Eve and I’m mulling over the past year’s highlights and low points. On balance, the highlights win, although last week’s scare with Earl’s son and his dog certainly stands front and center right now. It wasn’t a highlight, believe me.
So what were some of the memorable occasions in our year? Well, we didn’t sell our house as much as we tried; but then it isn’t a bad place to live, so I’m not unhappy about it. We took a wonderful fishing vacation in northern Canada, our third time back to Wollaston Lake Lodge; and every time we visit we love the wilderness more and more. We took our annual trek to visit my family in Denver, CO, at Thanksgiving and found everyone there passing fair. Even more than that.
We weathered the stock market although, like most, our portfolios were in diet mode instead of full fighting weight. No matter; we still had more money than month. All my close friends survived and stayed in contact. Our health held, what with flu shots and pneumonia shots and vitamins and whatnot. The graying hairs on our heads were more than compensated for by the pleasure of watching grandchildren and great-grandchildren learn and grow. Both Earl and I lost weight.
When all is tallied, I honestly can’t think of a personal low point that didn’t have an upside. Call me a glass-half-full sort of person, I don’t mind.
Which brings me to another level. My own world is doing well, even though the world at large isn’t. We’ve had terrorist attacks, economic upheavals, industries on the verge of ruin. Certainly these are highlights only in the nightly news sense. In the world of day-to-day occurrences, they are at the other end of the spectrum. Still, I’ve decided the glass-half-full approach is the sort of mind-set it takes to look at 2008 on the macro-cosmic level and survive the economic, cultural, and international clashes that have roiled our world these past twelve months. The fact is that my world has been impacted by such events mostly on the nightly news and not in real life. They have touched others far more than they have touched me. They have caused me dismay, but not physical pain. If that isn’t a glass-half-full gift, I don’t know what is.
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